Fitting In
by David Atwood
I hear my bones. I hear them growing.
Joaquin the Spaniard said as he spread
too long for the beds in Basque, then
too large for the chaise lounge of France.
Too tall for the doors of Europe
too colossal for the being he became.
Too high for a Queen who commanded he bare,
taller than all who paid for his display.
He grew forever closer to heaven
But never could grow beyond
the torture in the bends of his joints,
or the strain of the stretch of his spine.
Summers grew the Oak trunks broad
and tall along the Altzo Azpi valley
until his family tree wanted to see
if the Giant had outgrown his grave.
When they reached into earth
and dug up his bones
for the first time the world found
Joaquin fit perfectly in the ground.
Joaquin the Spaniard said as he spread
too long for the beds in Basque, then
too large for the chaise lounge of France.
Too tall for the doors of Europe
too colossal for the being he became.
Too high for a Queen who commanded he bare,
taller than all who paid for his display.
He grew forever closer to heaven
But never could grow beyond
the torture in the bends of his joints,
or the strain of the stretch of his spine.
Summers grew the Oak trunks broad
and tall along the Altzo Azpi valley
until his family tree wanted to see
if the Giant had outgrown his grave.
When they reached into earth
and dug up his bones
for the first time the world found
Joaquin fit perfectly in the ground.
David Atwood is a native New Orleanian, voice actor, radio DJ, and poet living in Alexandria, LA with his wife, writer Christee Gabour Atwood. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from LSU and has worked in radio in Baton Rouge, Atlanta, and currently in Alexandria. His first chapbook of poetry, Find Your Way Home, was released in 2010; his second, Catfish Bones and Cajun Ghosts, in 2016; and Instamatic in 2022. Atwood has also been published in The Louisiana Review, Delta Poetry Review, Louisiana Literature, The Aquila Review, Belle Journal, and Verbatim.